Thread: Human Compassion

Ultimately, there is that as well.
The right thing means diffrent things to different people, and is not always'Right'.
Even rational thinking to check if the right thing is right, will not make a difference.

I am pretty sure that a suicide bomber thinks he does the right thing. I even think that the 911 hijackers (those who knew what was going to happen at least) were convinced that what they were doing was the right thing. They may even have had rational arguments (that we would very probably disagree with) about how their actions would be the right ones in the end.

So you have to be careful when trying to do the right thing, because it could be the wrong thing to a lot of people.

Its an unfortunate reality that mankind is wrapped up in tight social bonds be it your family, your state, your country, your religion or other social bonds and its always a matter of a total lack of compassion towards the other social group. its only when we are threatened like a heard of cattle do we band together and forget our differences and are the best of friends until the threat is over and then it back to the usual business of killing and brutalizing the other group. Yes there are some people in the world with compassion however they are in the minority and its those with the least compassion, the most brutal and the most aggressive who take control at all levels in our societal bonds.

As creatures become more intelligent they become more violent and less compassionate. Ask a Lion chowing down on a Zebra. he the most compassionate animal in the world but hey, he's hungry and the Zebra's on the menu but its nothing personal. Reminds me of the mafia hit man who was hired to kill a guy. he walked up to the guy and said, are you ....and the guy say yes, he the hit man says,"don't be mad at me, this is nothing personal and I don't wish you to suffer and pumps a few rounds in his head and walks away. A true story.

Compassion=compati=with suffering! the other possible root means to bear with!
Does not a mother demonstrate these traits when holding a crying baby that will not be comforted. how about a man holding his dying wifes head in his lap. there is no future gain by doing this yet how many of you would walk away from your dying spouse just because the relationship didn't serve you anymore? what about an incurable long term illness in a family member? Why not walk away? Its only draining your pocket book and taking up the time you could be spending fishing! There is no true benefit for the person who remains to be a comfort for the other! the one who comforts has to bear all the pains and burdens along with the one he is comforting and most likely all the financial burden also! True compassion exists and its not all that uncommon!! How many of you bury your dead pet instead of tossing "Fido" into the garbage? I bet you don't tell every Tom, Dick, and Harry to get approval! And, is not burying your pet showing the desire to comfort even after death? Is this not, at least an inckling of compassion?
I think this thread is a little too cynical for my tastes!

Exactly my point, all your examples involve your tight little social circle. In many countries of the world there are patrols that rove the city in the early morning hours to pick up the bodies of those who have died the night before in the streets where they live. yes they show the dead much compassion, a pity they didn't do that while they were still alive.

For much of the world, it reminds me of that famous line in Planet of the Apes-"The only good human is a dead human"

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Exactly my point, all your examples involve your tight little social circle. In many countries of the world there are patrols that rove the city in the early morning hours to pick up the bodies of those who have died the night before in the streets where they live. yes they show the dead much compassion, a pity they didn't do that while they were still alive.

For much of the world, it reminds me of that famous line in Planet of the Apes-"The only good human is a dead human"

Mr. Spendur,
I do not wish to argue your point. I only wish to point out that you missed mine!
One must start with oneself first and everything moves out from that point. If one hates oneself, hate will spread forth from that person and contaminate all who are not strong enough to resist! The obverse is also true!

Jesus gave us two commandments: love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as you love yourself!
To me this implies that if you love your God then it follows that you will love yourself and as the love for yourself grows overtime you will be capable of loving your neighbor and so it spreads out from there!

Compassion is an evolved human emotional behavior that exists in the species because for whatever reason it helped increase the odds for survival. Think about it, most of the accomplishments of our species were made possible by our ability to cooperate in societies. Thus, social skills are a plus for survival just like physical strength and agility. How much compassion is the right amount to have? Like all other inherited behaviors, nature is always experimenting; testing a wide spectrum and letting the circumstances decide who survives to pass on traits.

I find it interesting and encouraging that, beyond the small social circle, citizens of many progressive countries in the world have developed strong and reliable social security and health care networks that have actually been shown to encourage productivity and the economy and not leech from it. An example of how, as our population grows, we find ways to transfer the lessons learned through compassion to our larger communities.

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